Tuition hikes continue at Ohio’s public colleges (The Columbus Dispatch) – Eight of Ohio’s 14 public universities have announced plans to increase tuition for next year, with 5 colleges yet to announce their decision. So far only Bowling Green does not plan to have an increase. The trend is partly caused by decreased state funding in recent years and declining enrollment.
Solving the Problem of Student STEM Fatigue (U.S. News & World Report) – STEM degrees have one of the highest attrition rates with nearly 9 out of 10 students who express an intent to pursue a STEM degree switching before graduation. To help address this experts are calling for more hands on projects to keep students engaged and improved mentorship programs to help students avoid being discouraged by the demanding coursework.
State warns charter sponsors against opening iffy schools (The Columbus Dispatch) – In a rare move, the Ohio Dept. of Education has issued a warning to three charter school sponsors that they will be shut down if they allow any of six proposed charter schools to open next fall citing lack of proper planning. The department has been increasing its oversight of charters due to a string of problems with schools opening and closing within a single year.
Barack Obama cracks down on poor teacher training (Politico) – The Dept. of Education has announced plans to tie federal grant money for teacher training programs to a number of outcomes designed to measure the effectiveness of the program. A debate over has arisen over the proposed measurements, but there is agreement that something needs to be done to better prepare teachers for the classroom.
Mining for Efficiencies Post Moore’s Law (HPC Wire) – Computer scientists are beginning to shift their focus to finding minor incremental changes that can help improve computing power and efficiency as Moore’s Law begins to slow. Changes to the computational aspects of computers will help improve their speed and will likely play a major role in developing the first exascale supercomputer system.
